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Private Power Plants Will Produce 3,000 MW

While 99.7 percent of the population is connected to the national power grid, there are still 600 rural areas without access to electricity, consultant for rural electricity affairs of the Iran Power Generation, Transmission & Distribution Management Company (Tavanir), Valioddin Maslahati-Sharbianim, was quoted by IRNA as saying.

Electricity supply to the 600 rural areas requires 1.06 trillion rials ($31.8 million) investment. The government plans to supply electricity by the end of the year to villages with a population of less than 20 households, mostly in the south and east.

Inaccessibility, social conflicts, and exclusion from the national rural coding system are among the main reasons why some rural areas are still cut off the national power network, the official noted, expressing hope that the electricity supply project will be fully implemented within a year.

A total of 55,700 villages are supplied with electricity, of which 170 get power from renewable sources. Tavanir has signed agreements with the Iran Nomad Affairs Organization to supply electricity to designated housing units via 300 watt solar power. Nomads will receive the portable panels, a 300-watt panel and a rechargeable battery, free of charge.

Small-scale distributed power plants are an appropriate option for electricity supply in remote areas owing to their fuel efficiency of more than 65-70 percent compared with that of normal power plants, not exceeding 40 percent on average.

Agreements were also signed with the private sector for the generation of 3,000 MW electricity through small-scale power plants.

"Private investors have had a significant role in development of the power industry," Gholamreza Khoshkholgh, a Tavanir official said, adding: "Construction of small-scale power plants is one of the most appropriate means of investment for the private sector as there are no Chinese competitors in the sector, and the government supports private enterprise."

Out of the 3,000 MW contracts signed with private companies, 410 MW has gone on stream, with a further 100 MW expected to enter the grid by mid-June.

Earlier this month First Vice President Es'haq Jahangiri called on the energy ministry to hand over as many incomplete projects as possible to the private sector. More than 52 percent of power plants were constructed by private enterprises in the past Iranian calendar year (ended March 20). Of the total 16 thermal power plants with an aggregate capacity of 2177 MW, seven units with a capacity of 1132 MW were constructed by the private sector last year.

Iran’s electricity industry ranks 14th in the world and first in the Middle East in terms of electricity generation with an installed power generation capacity of 72,000 MW.